Structure

Most of the Catalan Sports Federations have a lot of tradition
and some of them participated in the foundation of International
Sports Federations, as the Catalan Federation of Rugby, that was
one of the founder members of the Fédération Internationale de Rugby Amateur
(FIRA) in 1934 [1].

Catalonia has
officially recognised national teams in some sports competing in
world and European championships as Catalonia, but in most sports
Catalan sportspeople
compete within Spanish national teams.

The best Catalan teams use to participate in European
competitions.

Main
sports

Football is considered the most important sport in Catalonia and
was introduced in the late 1800s by a combination of mostly British
immigrant workers, visiting sailors, and students returning from
Britain.

Catalonia also began
to produce a number of football clubs including Palamós Foot-Ball
Club founded in 1898 and Català SC and Foot-Ball Club
Barcelona, both founded in 1899. Soon there were enough
clubs to organize a league and in December 1900, Alfons Macaya, the president of Hispania AC,
offered a trophy -Copa Macaya- that eventually evolved into the Catalonia championships
that was played until 1940, when
was disbanded during Franco's dictatorship.

Basketball was played for the first time in Catalonia in 1913, in the school Vallparadís of Terrassa, encouraged by
Alexandre Galí and Artur Martorell. After the First World War the
Belgian Emile Tiberghien incorporated the basketball in his gym in
Barcelona. Despite these early experiences, it's commonly accepted
that basketball was introduced in Catalonia in 1922 by Father
Eusebi Millan when organized the first team in the School "Escoles
Pies de St. Anton" in Barcelona.

That year, 1922, was born the
first club in Catalonia, the Basketball-Ball Laietà Club (now Club
Esportiu Laietà). In those days, basketball was developed mainly
through the educational centers and associations of popular and
Catholic character. The first game is played in the field of CE Europa on 8 December
1922, with a final scoreboard: Europa 8-Laietà 2.

Former CB Girona

On 15 April 1923 began the
first Catalan Basketball Championship that was played until 1957
(except the period of the Civil War). It was undoubtedly the most
important competition held in Catalonia before the birth of the Spanish league.

In 1941 were played the first
handball matches in Catalonia and one year later was founded a
Handball Federation in Catalonia. Then handball was developed over
Catalonia, increasing the number of teams every year, being 80
clubs in 1958. Barcelona held the first
European Clubs Cup in 1958, a
competition ideated by the French Federation.

For the decades of 40's and 50's some handball competitions were
held with 11 players, like the Catalonia Championships. But finally
the 7 players game was the one that continued.

FC Barcelona

During the 80's and 90's decades the Catalan Federation
organized the Catalonian league, played by
the best Catalan clubs. On 1997 was replaced by the Pirenees league adding teams
from the south of France and
the coorganization of the Ligue Languedoc Roussillon. FC Barcelona
is the team that has won more times both competitions.

The first rink hockey match played in Catalonia was in 1915 with
the Indian Hoquei Club and the Sport Hoquei Club, but it were only
the preliminaries. In 1925 some matches were played regularly and
in 1928 was founded the Catalan Federation. The first Catalonia's
Championship was played in 1930 and began a full developing for the
sport around Catalonia.

In 2004 the Federació Catalana
de Patinatge was admitted by the International Roller
Sports Federation (FIRS) as a provisional member, and as such
it took part in the 2004 Rink Hockey World Championship B in Macau.
Catalonia national team won all its matches and was crowned as 2004 B's World Champions
and gained the right to be in the 2005 Rink Hockey World
Championship. But in the following FIRS congress, in Fresno,
the official recognition was revoked because of the opposition of
the Spanish federation, in an assembly full of irregularities as
the Court of Arbitration for
Sport (CAS) ruled, in the case known as the Fresno Case. A new
assembly was thus held in Rome, as
the CAS verdict had decided, and Catalonia's application was
rejected again. Because of this decision, Catalonia could not
participate in the 2005 World Championship [2], that
finally was won by Spain, with a team composed by all the players
from Catalonia.

Since 2004, Catalonia national team has competed in the Blanes
Golden Cup with other national teams, and has won the trophy three
times.

In 2006 the Catalan roller
skating Federation was admitted to the Confederación Sudamericana
del Patín and nowadays plays in the Copa America championships.

Pitch and putt is played in Catalonia since the "eighties" when
Martin Withelaw build a course in Solius (Santa
Cristina d'Aro, Girona).
The interest on Pitch and putt has been growing since then, with
more than 14000 players in 2008 associated to Catalan Federation of
Pitch and Putt (FCPP), and more than 30 courses.

In 1999 the "Associació Catalana de Pitch and putt" was one of
the founders of the European Pitch and Putt
Association[5], the
governing body that develops pitch and putt in Europe and stages a
biennial European Team Championships, where Catalonia has reached
the second place three times [6].

Futsal in Catalonia is managed by Catalonia Futsal Federation
(FCFS) (Federació Catalana de Futbol Sala), affiliated to European Union of Futsal in
2004 [7] and
recognised by the World Futsal association (AMF) in 2006 [8]. And
it's also managed by Catalonia Football
Federation (FCF) for the teams that play the FIFA game.

Other
sports

Tennis began to be practiced in Catalonia in the late nineteenth
century, in cities such as Barcelona or Reus, by some British people stablished in
Catalonia and members of the Catalan bourgeoisie.

In 1904 was founded the Lawn
Tennis Association of Barcelona, who joined as a full member in the
Lawn Tennis Association (the international federation in those
days). Later, in 1913, it was
transformed into Lawn Tennis Association of Catalonia. In 1917 was
played the first Catalan Tennis Championship. In all these
tournaments, the Barcelona LT was an important organizer.

Rallies have several Catalan motorcycle champions as Nani Roma (1 Dakar Rally), Marc Coma (1 Rally Dakar
and 3 times rallies cross country world champion) and Jordi
Arcarons (4 times runner-up in the Dakar Rally). In car rallies,
the Rally
Catalunya is one of the races of the World Rally Championship since
1991. The first edition of Rally Catalunya was in 1957.

In the same way as happened to the rest of Europe, the cycling
was one of the first sports who took force and popularity in
Catalonia, since the eighties of the 19th century. The first
clyclist entity was the Club Velocipèdic of Barcelona (1884) and
then was founded the Sport Ciclista Català. In 1893 was built the
Bonanova velodrome with a measure of 400 meters, considered one of
the best in Europe in those days. In 1895 was built the Reus
velodrome and in 1896, the Lleida velodrome.

In 1897 was founded the Catalan Cycling Union, who managed the
cycling in Catalonia.

In 1907, alumni of the Ateneu Calasanç in Terrassa began playing field hockey, a sport
that already practiced the English people living in Catalonia, and
founded the Lawn Hoquei Club Calassanç in 1911. Terrassa is where traditionally has been
practised, with a lot of teams as Egara, Atlètic de Terrassa or CD
Terrassa. In Barcelona
it's played in Polo club.